Sunday, 9 November 2014

"Some areas of the economy are going through difficult times," is an expression of gloom that one hears
frequently these days on the radio. Newspapers and TV illustrate current
catastrophes with pictures of unemployed workers demonstrating in front
of closed factories. No wonder that those who watch those images get
the feeling that the world is coming to an end.The poison of discouragementIf you ask
yourself what most people are going to do to help the victims, chances
are that your answer will be "pretty much nothing." One could argue that
the sole purpose of reporting those nightmares is to exaggerate
existing problems and induce numbness in the audience. The implicit
motto seems to be "watch and be paralysed."

Presenting problems
as allegedly unsolvable is not an approach conductive to finding
solutions. Why on earth are people devoting their precious time to
watching news about dreadful events if they are not planning to
contribute to a solution?

The antidote against this type of
poison is simple. Cut down the hours that you spend in front of the
television. Spend less time reading newspapers. Ignore depressing
messages on the radio that are meant to turn misery into entertainment.
Rational individuals are never satisfied with hearing about problems. An
active mind looks for alternatives and practical solutions.

Facing problems with creativityThe
question becomes essential when we focus on our immediate environment. A
man needs resiliency and creativity to face problems that affect his
family and friends. Compassion and good words rarely save the day.
Acquiring the habit of looking for alternatives might do more to
increase your success and happiness than receiving a substantial
inheritance.

A man becomes an independent thinker when he
readjusts his views in favour of a realistic perception of the world.
Sooner or later, you will have to deal with a catastrophe in your life.
Your ability to search relentlessly for better options will minimize
your losses and lead you out of the danger zone.

Insecure men and
women are paralysed by dreadful news, but rational individuals know
that media reports tend to exaggerate catastrophes. Passive spectators
love to point out how desperate a situation is, but self-reliant
individuals know that depressing media stories tend to portray people
who lack initiative to improve their own life. When scaremongers
conclude that all is lost, independent thinkers are already exploring
new opportunities.

Every minute devoted to contemplating
disasters is wasted. If you are a victim of a major economic shift or
personal tragedy, stand up, wipe the dust off your clothes, refocus your
goals, and move on.

The search for better alternativesRemind yourself that today's catastrophes
might be regarded as minor annoyances a decade later. In the long term,
your goals, actions, and persistence play the decisive role in your
life. An active mind does not stand still in the dark and is always
searching for better alternatives.

False convictions, in
particular when a persons believes that he is not creative, can
constitute a monumental barriers to independent thinking. This is the
kind of myth that is meant to keep you down and destroy everything you
own. This is the sort of fantasy that can make you small and reduce your
ambitions to nothing at all.

Have you ever been fed nonsense
such as that creative people are exclusively those who do artistic
things, such as singing, playing guitar, drawing, or directing films?

Have you been sold on the mistaken idea that most jobs in industry and
commerce consist of boring routines to be performed in a
narrowly-described manner in order to arrive at predetermined results?

Have you been wrongly told that only top positions in an organization
require some measure of creativity and that all other employees are not
supposed to put forward new ideas?

Those statements are
misrepresentations you should not believe a word of them. Whatever your
station in life, you owe to yourself to see things as they really are
and let go of myths about creativity. The truth is that you are an
intelligent, creative human being, and that it is up to you to decide
how to exercise your creativity.

Choosing your own goalsNobody has the right to exclude
any fields of human activity from creativity and innovation. You are the
only one who is entitled to choose what goals you want to pursue and in
which way. Your life and your personal conditions are unique. There is
no one else like you in the world and there will never be.

Your
perceptions and experience cannot be internalized by another human
being. The combination of knowledge that exists in your mind is singular
to one person. Your creativity is the factor that allows you to reshape
that knowledge and produce something original.

The years of your
life will end up some day, hopefully in a distant future. No man knows
how much time he has, but we are all conscious of our mortality. This
fact should not be interpreted negatively. On the contrary, it should
become an encouragement to make the best of every hour.

Today,
right now, is the best moment to discard preconceived ideas about
creativity. It is the ideal time to reclaim for ourselves, in our chosen
field of activity, the right to exert our mind to the utmost.

Don't
waste a minute in admiration of someone else's grandiose view of his
own avocation. Develop an active mind that looks for alternatives. Make
your own decisions and throw away what doesn't work. Creativity can be
demonstrated daily in all our actions. When we choose and when we move,
we become ourselves the living proof.